Name/Title
Hastings Borough Police Special Constabulary lower rank's cap badge 1958-1967Entry/Object ID
557Description
Chrome plated round Queen's Crown cap badge marked "Hastings Special Constabulary" with solid Hastings Borough coat of arms centre in later style shield. No maker's mark.Use
For use on lower rank's Hastings Special Constabulary capsContext
The Special Constabulary is made up of volunteers who carry out uniform police duties in their own time, and in its current form it dates from The Special Constable's Acts of 1914 and 1923. Until 1914 special constables could only be sworn in for very limited amounts of time if there was the threat of a riot or a serious disturbance and were not uniformed. The threat of war in 1914, and the likelihood that many police officers, being ex soldiers and therefore army reservists, would be "called up" to fight led to concerns that there would be a shortage of officers. To counter this the 1914 Act allowed special constables to be sworn in for the duration of the conflict. The 1923 Act made the temporary arrangement permanent.
With the 1914 Act and longer periods of service special constables were given uniforms for the first time, though in may areas shortages meant that most specials only had proper uniforms towards the end of the war. However by the end of the war and in particular following the 1923 Act, similar uniforms to regular officers were in use, though helmets were not issued to specials, who wore caps.
The type of insignia used by special constables varied from police force to police force. Most forces used the same insignia as full time officers, some used generic special constabulary insignia and others used special constabulary insignia unique to the particular force in question. This particular badge possibly uniquely for Sussex, is marked to a specific force special constabulary, in this case Hastings Borough Police. It is believed that most of the pre 1968 Sussex forces used their standard cap badges for their specials, where as this one is specifically for special constables in Hastings. The Queen's or St Edward's Crown on this badge dates to between 1952 and 1967, but the actual style of shield in the centre was only used in Hastings Borough Police from 1958.
In the 2000's Sussex Police allowed special constable's to wear helmets for the first time, and now the only difference in the uniforms of regular and special constables are the format of epaulette letters and numbers, special constables having the "SC" prefix followed by a 4 digit number.